


Therapy Friend

by fraudoc



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Magnus Feels Awkward, One-Sided Emotional Talks, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 01:38:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9469709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fraudoc/pseuds/fraudoc
Summary: Magnus lends Brad an ear.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i started this at 2 AM and finished at 4 AM, and now it's all edited and hopefully better!

"Brad! I thought about it, and I'm finally gonna try and get better at that personal space stuff-" Rushing in didn't normally end up too great for Magnus, but this... This was a different sort of not great.

Instead of sitting cheerfully at his desk doing whatever the Hell he usually does in his office, probably paperwork, Magnus guesses? Brad's hunched over, head in his arms, shoulders shaking in time with muffled sobs. Or he was, anyway. As soon as Magnus came in yelling he shot up, tears stopping in surprise. Maybe that was for the best?

But Brad still looks in a bad way without the tears. Both his eyes and face are red and wet, his nose running while he reaches for a tissue from a box in some drawer. His glasses are off to the side, probably so they wouldn't get stained. He looks... Gross, if Magnus is being honest.

"So-rry." He sounds awful, probably also from the crying. Dabbing at his face with a different, less gross tissue, Brad turns his face away from the man standing in the doorway. "This, looks bad, huh?" Magnus gives a shrug and a nod he's not sure Brad can see. "Yeah. Sorry..."

There's a few beats of silence, broken up by the sounds of the orc sniffling and occasionally coughing into a new tissue. "It's cool, but. Uh." Magnus looks away from Brad, who's still wiping at his tear-stained cheeks. More sniffs. "I can wait outside..."

"Actually Magnus," Brad starts, voice still thick but a touch clearer, "do you have a minute or two?"

"Well..."

"It's okay if you don't! I'll be all better in a little while, then we can talk about those complaints people keep sending in." He flashes a grin and Pan, it's so shaky and pathetic. Magnus actually sort of feels bad for the guy. Like, _really_  bad, even though he's probably not the reason he's crying. He hopes he isn't, anyway.

He should definitely go, but instead Magnus steps inside, shutting the door behind him. Brad nods in thanks and turns to face his desk as he sits across from him, hands in his lap, stance awkward as ever. "So, uh... What's up, Brad? How've you been?"

"I've been okay! But things are, hm. Things have been sort of rough." He tries to laugh- definitely tries- but he ends up just coughing, taking a second to clear his throat. "How 'bout you?"

"I'm good... Do you wanna, like, talk?"

"If you're okay with listening."

"I sat down, didn't I?" Brad lets out an actual laugh at that, pulling his hands away from his face to clasp them together and rest them at his desk.

"You did! But hey, don't feel obligated to listen all the way through, okay? You can leave whenever. You can leave right now, if you want." Magnus nods but stays seated, slouching forward some. It takes Brad a few seconds to speak, clearing his throat before starting.

"I love what I do, Magnus. In that I really like working here at the Bureau of Balance and just, going out and helping people when I can." He sounds more like the regular Brad Magnus sort of-ish knows then, all happy and eager to help and definitely not the kind of guy who cries at work. "It's really, really rewarding. But, y'know..." He leans back, hands pulling away from the desk to fall at his sides. "That gets pretty draining eventually. You listen and help enough people that you start to wonder who's going to listen to you when you're feeling bad and need a kind word or eager ear."

Brad swallows something down and he's not looking at Magnus anymore, just staring at the far wall where it and the ceiling connect. "But you don't want to bother anyone with how you're feeling, because boy, so many people are going through such terrible stuff! And the stuff you're dealing with isn't that serious, so you just keep it to yourself. And you keep keeping it to yourself because you don't want to stress anyone out," there's tears welling in his eyes again, and maybe now is a good time to make his escape, "and you don't think anyone wants to listen either, so you end up sitting in your office feeling awful day in and day out until you finally break down, and- Magnus?"

Stupid stealth rolls, stupid no help dual-classing, he was so close to the door. Magnus stands up from his crouch and attempt at stealth, suddenly feeling terribly guilty now that he's been caught. Brad looks from him to the door and sniffs again, rubbing at his eyes with his hand. "Sorry, I said you could leave whenever. You can go." The hand not trying to stop his tears gives a wave towards his office's entrance.

It's _so_  tempting to just leave him alone and forget this ever happened, and keep ignoring Brad like he has been for the past few months. But that feels like a really shitty, not-Magnus thing to do right now, so he shakes his head and moves back to his seat. Brad looks like he feels pretty shitty too, and once he's stopped his tears again, the orc lets out a deep sigh.

"... So you end up in this situation. And I'm sorry you got caught up in it." He does his best to smile again, but it's just really upsetting to see. Magnus gives another shake of his head and leans forward, clasping a hand on Brad's shoulder.

"Hey, I didn't get 'caught up' in anything. I stuck around 'cause I got worried about a friend." That must have been a really good deception roll or something, because Brad looks a lot better already. His eyes are still teary and his face is still red, sure, but he's actually smiling this time and it isn't terrible to look at. Magnus smiles back. "And... Y'know, I get that way too, sometimes."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Well, sometimes." His shoulder gets a squeeze for emphasis before he talks, and he's _really_ looking at Brad, not noticing when his smile dies down into something a little more serious. "But there's nothin' wrong with talking about how you feel with your friends. They're gonna wanna know what's up with you- 'cause they're your friends!" Something visibly clicks in the orc at that. "So don't feel bad about wanting to talk about _you_ , okay?" Did he need reassuring, or has Brad never been told that before? 

Has he _ever_ had friends before? Good Pan, that's depressing to think about.

"Thank you, Magnus... I really needed to hear that." His hand moves off as Magnus sits back in his chair properly, nodding. He's the reason Brad's crying _now_ , but it's light, and he's pretty sure it's good crying."I've- y'know, I'm really thankful to have you as a friend."

"And coworker."

A sniff, a grin. "And coworker. Thanks and sorry again about all this." His tears are mostly gone now, so Brad reaches for his glasses, carefully putting them on and pushing them up with his pointer finger.

"Hey, no problem! 'S what friends and coworkers are for, right?"

"The friend part, at least. The coworker part," and now he looks even more like Normal Brad, reaching into his desk for whatever, "is for helping you resolve the issues brought up by those tickets that were sent in..."

Shit. He forgot about those. "Oh, yeah, those. I've actually gotta go- me and Killian planned this like, spar thing with me and her and Carey, and I don't wanna be late-" Magnus stands but Brad's already flipping through a thick stack of little white papers, reading them over.

"Most of them were sent by Taako, about you picking him up..."

"We can talk about 'em later!" Magnus rushes out with that, skidding into the hall. He turns to give a wave and a quick "see you later, Bart!" And he's gone, jogging away from both Brad and responsibility.

Back in his office, Brad gives the stack of papers one last quick read-through before sighing, smiling, and easing them into his desk-side recycling bin. Friends didn't let friends have bad records because of other friends.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at @sclassrank7 on twitter or magnusthehammer on tumblr. thanks for readin !


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